Meet the Sponsors of the LBB Beach 2024: Brave Spark
For our company snapshot piece, we want to create a profile that pinpoints exactly what makes your company unique right now in 2023. We want to know about the culture and the competitive edge that you bring as well as finding out how the company has evolved over the past couple of years as new tech and changes in the market have disrupted the industry.
Q> What is your Company Name?
Brave Spark
Q> What is your company website?
Q> What is it your Company Does?
We’re a Creative Studio helping brands who are tired of standing still. We take those who are struggling with distinction, speed or consistency and we Spark Something. Creating famous work without wasting time or money.
Q> Give us your elevator pitch
We took all the bits we liked from creative agencies, threw out the rest, then added backgrounds in production, post-production and creative technology. Our team of Thinkers and Makers is diverse in talent and diverse in thought. That, combined with a focus on collaboration over big reveals, means we can devise and deliver braver and more relevant ideas at speed.
Q> Who will be on the LBB Beach representing your company?
Our founders Rob Drake and Robin Shek – they met making adventure travel documentaries like Long Way Down in the late noughties. They both found they were tired of working with agencies and production companies that were too slow and expensive, so they created Brave Spark to do things more efficiently and effectively (and with a spark). 14 years later and Brave Spark is now one of the UK’s fastest-growing creative studios. Joining them will also be our MD Rebecca Vickery and New Business & Marketing Director Matt Williams.
Q> Who are you hoping to meet on LBB Beach? Individuals and/or company roles, companies, or anyone else?
Brilliant industry talent brimming with ideas, new and old friends who love the industry as much as we do, and ambitious brands looking to take a big leap forward. Are you a marketer stuck in a rut and need to spark something? Or have ideas that you want to get out of your head and into the real world? Maybe you could be our next big client…
Q> Are you hosting any events on LBB Beach, or elsewhere in Cannes during the week?
Our parent group MSQ has a full exciting schedule of events, which will be made available on msqpartners.com very soon.
Q> What are you most looking forward to about Cannes in 2024?
Having the real-life conversations that spark in a way no Teams call ever could.
Q> What do you think will be the hottest topics this year on the Croisette?
We could try and be clever and say something other than Ai. But it’s Ai, isn’t it? The biggest talking point around it will most likely be whether there’s still too much talk and not enough examples… or whether agencies and clients are starting to use it to actually change the game.
Q> What are your top tips for newbies going to Cannes, the Lions, and the LBB Beach for the first time?
When Alexander Graham Bell said ‘Preparation is Everything’ he was almost definitely referring to the Cannes Lions. Whether you’re spending the week in the Palais, the LBB Beach or up in the hills, make sure you’ve identified the right events, spoken to the right people and secured the required wristbands beforehand. And then, because the real beauty of Cannes Lions is the serendipity, be comfortable with that plan going entirely out the window at any given moment.
Q> Do you have any restaurant or bar recommendations in Cannes you’d like to share?
We know of one real hidden gem. But if we told you, it wouldn’t be hidden any more. And we like being able to get a table there. If you really want to know, give us a shout and we’ll go for a bite there together.
Q> What is your favourite non-work activity in Cannes?
Spending time with friends who, despite living in London and working approximately half a mile away, you only manage to catch up with for a beer when in the South of France. This is a mad, mad industry and the working week is only getting more and more relentless. Those long Friday Soho lunches are a thing of the past. It sucks in some ways that the industry has to descend on the Riviera to socialise over a glass of rose rather than a pint in the Dog & Duck, but you meet so many brilliant people working in this world, that it’s a joy to know there’s at least one time a year when everyone is (a little more) available to catch up.
Q> Lastly, what is your packing essential for the week at Cannes Lions?
Portable chargers. The look of joy on someone’s face when they’re out of juice and you offer to lend them one is akin to when a kid comes downstairs at Christmas and realises Santa’s been.
